Truisms - New York, 1993-94
Street art showed the first signs of its great potential sometime in the heady atmosphere of mid-1970s New York, when artists such as Jenny Holzer were attracted to the freedom that the urban environment gave them to spontaneously engage with an unsuspecting audience. Holzer exploited public space to her own ends, confronting the passerby with enigmatic texts in places where they would have expected to see commercial messages, so reversing the function of advertisements. Her signature works are her Truisms (1977-2011) such as this one - a series of statements and aphorisms placed across the city via posters, LED signs and hijacked cinema billboards Photograph: Sprueth Magers Gallery, London
Houston St & Bowery Mural - New York, 1982 (remade 2008)
In the early 1980s Keith Haring created a whole urban mythology of symbols, drawn with chalk on to the surfaces of blacked-out billboards in New York subway stations. Dolphins, pyramids, UFOs and his trademark “radiant baby” were just some of the iconic graphic signs that Haring developed in his comic-strip style. His images were universally familiar so viewers could easily interpret their own meanings and stories. Thirty years on, his iconographic approach and naïve spirit remains instantly recognisable and hugely influential. This mural was repainted on 4 May 2008, on what would have been Haring’s 50th birthday Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
A Love Letter For You – Philadelphia, 2009
Stephen Powers, aka “Espo”, is a highly regarded artist who in the mid-1990s brought his vernacular sign writing influence to the streets of New York and had a huge impact with his top to bottom letters painted on storefront shutters. As a result, in 2009 he was invited by his hometown of Philadelphia to create an ambitious series of murals entitled A Love Letter For You. Encompassing 50 walls in rundown parts of the city that could be viewed from the elevated trains, the neighbourhood was uplifted with colourful and positive messages such as “I Love You” and “Hold Tight" Photograph: Becki Fuller
Favela Morro Da Providência – Rio de Janeiro, 2008
Provocative yet sympathetic, Parisian photographer JR uses the street as a gallery, pasting giant blow-ups of his photographs. Usually portraits of ordinary people, these images speak about the lives of others, highlighting their social realities. In the case of the pictured “Women” project, JR turned his attentions to the marginalised Morro da Providência favela, posting photos of the impressive women he had met. The result was spectacular with the women’s giant eyes looking down protectively upon their neighbourhood Photograph: JR/Agence Vu
Kelburn Castle, Scotland 2007
Shaped by its country’s extraordinary cultural mix, Brazilian graffiti has its own indigenous styles that in recent years have had an international influence. The frontrunners are undoubtedly the twins Os Gêmeos, who have created their own imaginative universe of characters that adorn the streets of their native São Paulo. In 2007, along with fellow Paulista artists Nina Pandolfo and Nunca, they were afforded the rare opportunity to paint a 13th-century castle in Ayrshire Photograph: Deitch Projects
Leake St, Cans Festival – London, 2008
VHILS is a Portuguese artist who constantly innovates with new techniques and approaches to his art. Much of his work is created in situ and focuses on the transitory nature of the city, its history, and the lives of its inhabitants. May Bank Holiday 2008 became a watershed moment for him as he caught the attention of tens of thousands of visitors to the Banksy-masterminded Cans Festival, with two huge portrait pieces chiselled directly into the crumbling surface of the Leake Street tunnel, beneath Waterloo Station Photograph: alexandrefarto.com
Lisbon, 2010
Created in the month following the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, this extraordinary work by Blu and Os Gêmeos, giants of the worldwide street art scene, illustrates how urban art can confront social and political issues in a powerful uncensored way. Blu is a Bologna-based artist known for his large-scale paintings and Os Gêmeos are São Paulo twins known for their painted allegories. In an inspired touch, Blu takes full advantage of the location to incorporate the turrets of this abandoned building into the oil baron’s crown Photograph: Alexander Silva
Los Angeles, 2011
Operating on the fringes of the art world and more recently the documentary film world, Banksy follows in the great British traditions of satire and slapstick, using public space as his platform. Location is a key element in urban art and Banksy is the master of the sight gag. Street signs, billboards and even farmyard animals have all played a part in his visual punch lines. “This Looks a Bit Like an Elephant” was painted in LA earlier this year and demonstrates the simple transformative powers of street art Photograph: streetartnews.net
Murcia, 2010
Spanish artist Sam3 has an instantly recognisable style – using only black paint the artist is interested in the “naked idea”, which can be expressed simply with a silhouette. Much of his work is allegorical; his figures, commenting on society, human behaviour, and our desires and failings. Walls, buildings and more recently billboards act as backdrops for his shadow puppetry of images. This particular billboard exemplifies the artist’s ability to improvise with a given situation creating a narrative that turns the city into a stage set Photograph: sam3.es
Santa’s Ghetto – Bethlehem, 2007
One of the most important aspects of street art is engagement – communicating with and involving the public in your work. Swoon is a New York-based artist whose art and actions exemplify this ethos as she takes part in many socially engaged projects. Having gained international recognition for her intricate wheatpaste figures over a number of years, in 2007 she lent her support to the annual Banksy-organised art project known as Santa’s Ghetto. The main focus of this particular year was to create art on the 8m-high separation wall built by the Israeli military surrounding the Palestinian city of Bethlehem Photograph: Tristan Manco
